Cascade (18 page)

“
I’m sorry I wasn’t there all day
with you,” Jill said. “You should have seen Val’s face. I was like,
‘Great, good for you. Now, give me the damned car!’”

The women laughed.

“
What was with that security
guard?” Heather asked. “When I got there he was like, ‘And you must
be Heather. How’s the husband?’”

“
He was like that with me, too,”
Jill said. “He asked me how I got a car. I figured it was some
super secret spy thing. When he asked for Tanesha’s phone
number…”

Tanesha blushed and the women
laughed.

“
Did you give it to him?” Tanesha
asked.

“
I told him he should ask you
himself,” Jill said. “That man was smoking hot!”

“
I gave him Tanesha’s email,”
Sandy said.

“
Oooohhh,” Sandy, Jill and Heather
said in unison. Tanesha laughed.

“
Why was MJ’s team there? I never
really got that,” Jill said. “I was surprised.”

“
They said they fell into it
around the first of the year. That’s how they were connected in
Thailand, you know, for your stuff Jill,” Sandy said. She used the
towel to dry her hair. “What blew me away is that all this time –
since seeing MJ again in June and everything that’s happened – they
knew about me. In fact, Alex said they stayed involved with the
case because they wanted justice. For me! I mean, sometimes MJ
would say the nicest things to me – like when Nash was beat up, he
said he thought I was an awesome person. And all along…”

Jill hugged Sandy.

“
You are an awesome person,”
Heather said. “Tanesha and I… We knew something bad was going on
with your father… you know, when we were kids? But we didn’t know
everything until today. And…”

“
We think your father is a
bastard,” Tanesha said. “But none of it changes what we think about
you.”

“
I
cried when they told me,” Heather said. “You know Samantha’s
boyfriend? He told me in the elevator. I cried because I wouldn’t
want anything so horrible to happen to
my
Sandy. I had
to wait by the elevator until I wasn’t crying
anymore.”

“
You’re not mad that I didn’t tell
you?” Sandy asked.

“
Not a chance,” Tanesha said. “We
totally understand. I did. MJ told me in the elevator and I was
furious. I wanted to go kick some ass right there. But… I knew you
needed me.”

“
I did,” Sandy said. “It was an
awful day. And today was just the beginning. I’m going to have to
testify in a big Federal case. Even after being asked a billion
questions on tape and looking at that horrible website. There’s
more to do.”

Shaking her head, Sandy plopped down in a
chair.

“
And we’ll be with you the entire
way,” Jill said.

Sandy looked from face to face of her friends
then smiled.

“
Did you see my ring?”

“
I’ve ogled it all day!” Heather
laughed. “It’s gorgeous!”

“
Let’s eat,” Tanesha said. “We
have court cases to deal with, babies to make and whatever His
Hotness has planned for Miss Jill tomorrow.”

“
And you have a sexy security
guard to seduce!” Sandy laughed.

“
I may have one or two of my own
plans!”

Laughing, Tanesha passed out the pizza. The
women laughed and talked into the wee hours of the
morning.

~~~~~~~~

Sunday mid-day

Pulling Katy and Paddie on an ancient wood
snow sled, Jacob moved ahead toward what he thought was the perfect
Christmas tree. Jacob and his family had always cut their trees
with a national forest permit. But Jill had only had a Christmas
tree once or twice since her parents died. She was having a tough
time choosing a tree.

Valerie and Mike had picked a small tree for
their apartment. Delphie had picked a giant tree for the common
living room of the Castle. Delphie’s tree would be their main tree.
Jill needed to pick a tree for their home.

Her home.

Her first real Christmas.

Jill couldn’t decide. Jill wanted everything
to be perfect. She stopped to consider each evergreen tree then
moved on to another.

Katy and Paddie were having a great time on
the sled. Squealing and giggling, they kept yelling for Jacob to go
faster. On one small hill, he jumped on the back of the sled and
they went flying down. The kids begged him to do it again. They
flew down the hill three or four times before Jill decided not to
take a particular tree.

“
What are you worried about?”
Jacob had asked. “This is just the first of many trees.”

Biting her lip, Jill had nodded.

What was her hold up?

She remembered the perfect Christmas tree. It
was probably the last Christmas tree her family ever had. It was
big and beautiful. The tree smelled of hope, joy and love. She
remembered it stuffed with brightly wrapped presents underneath.
She wanted that for Katy.

Finally, Katy would have a real Christmas. Of
course, Katy only cared about riding fast down the hills on the
sled.

Towing the kids behind, Jacob ran back to
where she stood. He took her hand.

“
Trust me?” he asked.

Jill nodded. Jacob made a straight line toward
a crowded group of Douglas Fir. Near the edge of the grouping was a
perfect cone shaped tree about six feet tall. The branches had
enough space for ornaments and enough depth to not seem
bare.

“
But we don’t have enough
ornaments to fill the tree,” Jill protested. “It’s too
big.”

“
We’ll be fine,” Jacob
said.

“
You’re sure?”

Jacob kissed her lips.

“
Katy? What do you think?” Jill
asked.

“
I love it, Mommy! Can we take it
home?”

“
Let’s take it home,” Jill
said.

In no time, Jacob cut the tree with a folding
log saw from his backpack. He loaded the tree and his backpack onto
the sled. With Katy on Jill’s back, and Paddie on Jacob’s, they
made their way across the snow toward the cabin. In no time, they
joined the rest of the laughing group to make their way back to
Denver with their Christmas trees.

~~~~~~~~

Sunday afternoon — 3: 25
P.M.

Jacob pulled Jill’s Lexus in front of Alex
Hargreaves’s house in South City Park to take Paddie home to his
father. As they pulled up, Julie and Colin came out of the house
next to the rooming house. Jill smiled to see them holding hands.
She hoped that taking care of Paddie would give Colin and Julie
enough time to work out their relationship.

Jill went to the back seat to take the
sleeping Paddie from his car seat.

“
Say good-bye, Katy,” Jill
said.

“
Bye-bye, Paddie. Merry
Christmas!” Katy said.

Katy’s voice made Paddie open his eyes. Paddie
waved to her.

“
Don’t forget my tree!” Paddie
said to Jill.

“
I have it right here,” Jacob
said. He came around the back of the SUV holding the two foot tall
Christmas tree Paddie had picked for his room. “Hey
Colin.”

Jacob and Colin shook hands. While the men
fell into Hockey talk, Julie took Paddie from Jill.

“
How are you?” Jill
asked.

Julie laughed at Jill’s tone.

“
You’re surprised I’m here,” Julie
said. She kissed Paddie’s cheek. “Did you have fun?”

Paddie nodded then nestled into his
mother.

“
I moved in with Colin this
weekend,” Julie said. “Col lives in the top half of this house but
I guess you know that.”

“
Jake is rehabbing the house,”
Jill said. “I worked on Colin’s rooms but left the others. I was
hoping you might…”

“
Thanks,” Julie said. “We’re
excited… hopeful. It’s… better… nice.”

Jill smiled.

“
I wanted to ask you,” Julie said.
“I mean, Paddie loves Katy so much. We were hoping maybe you guys
could come over the day after Christmas for a little brunch. Paddie
has some little things he got for Katy.”

“
Katy has a few things for
Paddie,” Jill said. “I’ll ask Jake. I don’t think we have anything
planned. He’ll probably have to work, but Katy and I could
come.”

“
Really?” Julie’s face lit up.
“That would be great. Listen, I know you have a lot of friends and
are a model and everything, but…”

Julie’s face clouded. She looked over at
Colin. Colin walked over to put his arm around her. Jacob turned to
stand next to Jill.

“
I’m leaving work. Taking a leave
of absence for the rest of the year,” Julie said. “Fresh start. You
know. We’re putting our house in Lowry on the market. I’m letting
go of everything I had before.”

“
Everything
we
had before,” Colin
added.

Jill hugged Julie.

“
I wondered if we might be
friends,” Julie said.

“
Of course,” Jill said. “I
certainly know what it’s like to start over from
scratch.”

Jill heard a sound and watched Katy run over
to join them. Jill picked her up.

“
Katy and I started over just a
year ago,” Jill said.

Katy nodded.

“
Plus, I need to finish the colors
in your home,” Jill said. “That will be our first excuse to get
together.”

Julie smiled.

“
You can make brunch on Friday?”
Colin asked.

“
Sounds very fun,” Jacob
said.

“
Did you get my tree?” Paddie
asked.

“
We’ll set it up in your room,”
Colin said.

“
At the yucky house?” Paddie
asked.

“
This house,” Colin
said.

Paddie cheered. Julie kissed his cheek. They
turned to go into their new home.

“
See you Friday,” Jacob
said.

Katy and Jill followed him into the car. After
settling Katy in her car seat, Jill got into the passenger seat.
Jacob leaned over to kiss her lips.

“
You are very sweet,” Jacob said.
“Julie really needs a friend.”

“
Everyone needs a
friend.”

“
I don’t!” Katy said. “I have
Paddie and he’s my best ever friend!”

Laughing, they made their way to the Castle to
join the holiday celebration.

~~~~~~~~

Monday early morning – 4:30
A.M.

Sitting on her meditation pad, Delphie heard
the house start to stir. The family was getting up for work. She
needed to get moving. Yet something held her in place. Not an evil
force or another’s will, Delphie was held in place by a question.
For the last week, Delphie had started her meditation session with
a single question:

“
Why has all this misfortune
fallen upon us?”

The Goddesses were silent on this
topic.

She wondered if their silence was because she
was so lucky, so blessed with love, laughter and prosperity. Was
she not grateful enough?

The cloud of misfortune felt so dark, so heavy
and so silent. The Goddesses must surely see it more clearly than
she did. They refused to answer.

Ever since she was a small child, Delphie had
relied on the Goddesses to guide her, support her and care for her.
Even when she lived with Levi Johansen, the Goddesses intervened to
help her. After all, they brought Celia into her life.

Delphie had tried to reach Celia but Celia was
silent as well. Only her clients received her psychic support.
Otherwise, the spirits and Goddesses were quiet. She’s meant to ask
Jacob or Katy but in the middle of Christmas preparations, she kept
forgetting.

Snuffing out her candles, she said a closing
prayer to Quan Yin and began getting ready for her day. Sam had
wanted to get some sleep so he slept in his rooms last night. She
made the easy journey down the stairs to the kitchen. Hearing
rustling in the living room, she went out to see who was
up.

She stopped short at the doorway to the living
room. Jacob was standing in the middle of the living room with
ornaments flying around him. With a flick of a finger, an ornament
would fly to the tree then gently settle on a branch.

“
Damn it! You little shit! I knew
you were going to do this!” Wearing flannel pajamas, Valerie pushed
past Delphie. “You get to decorate the tree every year. You better
not have put my favorite ornament on the tree.”

Jacob smiled. Valerie’s favorite ornament
hovered in front of her face.

“
Want it?”

Valerie snatched it from the air. While
ornaments flew around her, Valerie skipped to the tree and placed
her ornament. She kissed Jacob’s cheek on the way back to the
kitchen.

“
Your skills have improved,”
Delphie said. “And your other abilities?”